Camilla - Founder, SUP Instructor & Guide
“Paddle boarding opened up my world in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Through this sport I found courage, confidence and co
nnection - I want to share this SUPerpower with the world and wake more people up to a better life through connecting with and being in nature.”
I’m an experienced, ASI qualified and fully insured stand up paddle board instructor now based in Lancing, West Sussex and have been teaching paddle boarding since 2019.
I started my SUP instructor training with Academy of Surfing Instructors (ASI) in December 2018 in Portugal, and became fully qualified as an ASI Level 1 (Inland Waters) & Level 2 (Coastal Waters) Paddle Board Instructor in June 2019, renewing qualifications annually and updating safety training every two years.
That’s all well and good but doesn’t give you much insight into who I am and how I got to be in Portugal!
Let me take you back to mid 2015 - I was a year into my dream job, heading up the marketing for a responsible travel company, building and coaching an awesome team of marketing superstars. I was happy and in love and my partner and I had decided it was time to start building our family. Life was good and exciting.
And then my Dad was diagnosed with Hairy Cell Leukaemia, after 20 years in remission. That’s ok, we can get through this, he’d done it before. He could do it again. I spent the next year supporting him with hospital visits, treatments and stints in isolation because of yet another infection. But this time, he didn’t make it. And in October 2016 he passed away from Sepsis.
My world was turned upside down.
As the youngest of 3, I wasn’t used to being in charge within our family dynamic but suddenly with Dad gone and both my siblings going through their own serious health issues I was in charge of supporting Mum and taking the lead dealing with Dad’s affairs, closing his business, managing their two households in the UK and Norway (my Mum’s homeland).
We then had the fallout of Brexit where the travel business started seriously struggling. I was doing everything I could to navigate my family situation, while trying to make my own family and hold it together for my team and employers. But in November 2018 it wasn’t enough - they made me redundant. Quite frankly it was the final straw.
After three years of trying to hold it all together, for everyone else, I said FUCK THIS.
My partner (and now husband) asked me - what do you LOVE doing?
I said “right now, the only thing that brings me joy is paddle boarding.”
And he said “ Right, then go do that.”
A week later I was in Portugal. Doing paddle boarding. Training to be an instructor. At 38. A decision that changed my life trajectory.
No grand master plan. No big mission. Just saying a simple yes, being open to trying something completely out of my comfort zone and remaining open to what might come next.
I trained hard, practiced even harder and six months later I was officially qualified. We then had a pandemic and the world shut down. But apparently I had the antidote to lockdown and the skills to go with it.
Paddle Boarding + Time on Water + Nature Connection = Soul Revival.
I launched SUP & Soul in June 2020 and since then have provided well over 1,000 people with much needed respite from the madness, offering water and nature connection for wellbeing.
In 2021, alongside teaching people to paddle, I also designed and hosted a series of unique one day women only Water & Wellness retreats. And over the course of that summer successfully sold out and hosted 12x one-day retreats, a female founder retreat day, a gifted day for the charity, RISE and even my hen party was a version of the retreat day but with a little more alcohol and a lot more wild dancing in the woodland.
Now over 200 women have joined me on retreat, finding balance with water, calm with nature and reconnection with their wild selves.
Together we’ve paddled inland and coastal waterways around Sussex, Hampshire, Somerset and Bristol in England. I’ve hosted trips to Norway and Slovenia and shared paddle adventures with my husband and friends across Spain, Portugal, Canada, Israel, Sri Lanka and my absolute favourite, Norway.
In 2022 my (now) husband and I had the news we were unlikely to get pregnant. It was a tough pill to swallow. So we decided a change of perspective was needed and moved to the West country. I paused the business with the intention of moving it to Somerset as well. But something wasn’t quite right. Although a wonderful part of the UK, we struggled to settle and truly land in Somerset.
After a year we had a deep realisation that Sussex is home. So we spent another year getting back home. Finally moving to Lancing in February 2025. It took a further year to feel ready to revive SUP & Soul. And to acknowledge that perhaps, this can be my contribution to the world, instead of being a Mum.
This long winding journey has helped me get super clear on my mission…To hold spacious, safe and supportive; fun and friendly; judgement-free spaces for clients & guests, to learn new skills, be immersed in nature, to build confidence being in, on and by the water. And to rest.
Whether that’s simple paddle boarding lessons on the River Adur and the coastal waters around Lancing, through the Water & Wellness Retreats in the UK and abroad or through a new selection of offerings I’m busy working on. The choice is yours.
A few other lil things about me.
I’m trained in nature facilitation and have now completed the Change in Nature Nature Facilitation programme twice! Once in September 2021 and again in May 2026. It’s the most magical training course I’ve ever been on.
I’m a British Norwegian and spend a lot of time in Norway, paddling and adventuring, hosting trips and visiting lots of family whilst I’m at it!
In 2023 I collaborated with my sister, Maria and together we designed and hosted our first retreat in Norway - it was simply INCREDIBLE. Nine of us slept in a Treetop Camp near Trondheim and enjoyed nearly 24 hour sunlight and daily micro adventures from dusk til dawn - paddling, wild swimming, hiking, yoga, qi-gong, cooking over fire, sleeping under the stars, a 12 hour silence and spirit journey, drumming & singing circles and oh so much more. In 2027, we’re doing it all over again!
In 2025 I collaborated with Edina from SUP Travel and 8 of us flew to Slovenia to paddle (and hike) 5 waterways over 5 days - Bohinj, Soča River, Bovec, Lago del Predil in Italy and Lake Bled. It was the most magical mystery tour and Slovenia is DIVINE. We loved it so much that in 2027 we’re doing that all over again too!
And then there’s the Sound Healing.
I trained in Level 1 Sound Healing with Academy of Sound Healing in Spring 2024 and then started my level 2 in Spring 2026 and now I’m in the middle of a year long programme to become a qualified sound healer.
Whilst I’m training I can offer sound healing and will be adding this to my offerings in the Summer of 2026 and collaborating with other sound healers such as the beautiful soul, Hayley of Crystal and Sound here in Lancing.
My vision outside of the paddle boarding lessons and watery wellness retreats is to host a one to one day of paddle boarding, wild swimming, sound healing and time to reflect into a private, tailored experience of total self care.
Where I hold space for you to learn, rest, reset, ask questions and explore answers, and come away a little changed. A Soulful Refuge if you will.
